1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for identifying a species or homology of an organism such as microorganism by its genotype.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organisms which include microorganisms have been identified so far basically using their phenotypes. However, identification by phenotypes was not suited for distinguishing organisms more accurately. Particularly, there was practical limitation upon identifying/specifying microorganisms comprising a large number of species by phenotypes. Our daily life is surrounded by microorganisms. Microorganisms such as Escherichia coli 0157, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Vibrio cholera cause many diseases, and a technique for accurately identifying microorganisms is needed for establishing effective treatments and specifying infection pathways. It is also recognized that soil bacteria are involved in the productivity and quality of an agricultural product, and that the human health is greatly influenced by the enteric bacterial flora. Accurate studies have not carried out, however, concerning the relation between the productivity or quality of an agricultural product and the kind, quantity, and combination of soil bacteria, and the relation between the human health and the enteric bacterial flora. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to accurately identify/distinguish microorganism(s) by the conventional identification by its/their phenotype(s).
In the above-mentioned situation, identification of microorganisms by genotypes is proposed instead of that of phenotypes.
It is quite possible to identify/distinguish microorganism(s) by comparing the (whole) genome of each microorganism using the recent sequencing technique level. It needs, however, a significant amount of work and time, and is not a simple method. Therefore, identifying/distinguishing species of microorganisms by comparing the (whole) genome is practically not a widely applicable method. Although a method for comparing a part of a genome is known as a more simple method, enough information is not obtained for identifying/distinguishing species by comparing the 16S rRNA sequences.